photo by Chloe Jakiela
President Paul Hennigan discusses the future of Point Park with the Honors Program in the Lawrence Hall Multipurpose Room Monday night. Hennigan gave the same presentation earlier in the day to USG. At the meeting, students had the opportunity to voice their opinions about their experience at Point Park and the directions they want to see Point Park go in the future. 

With a backdrop of the University’s mission statement, Point Park President Paul Hennigan addressed the creation of the university’s strategic plan with the United Student Government (USG). 

“[Strategic plans] are a chance for us to look around and see what’s going on in the environment right now and make decisions about where do we want to be three-to-five years from now so we continue to be a thriving university to meet your [the student’s] needs and prepare you to go and do what you love to do,” Hennigan said.

The creation of the newest, in-the-works strategic plan stems from the amount of time, which has passed since the last plan.

The previous strategic plan was developed in 2008 and focused on quality and excellence. That plan was reviewed each year since its creation and was found to hold roughly an 80 percent success rate, Hennigan explained to the legislative body.

Strategic plans, as Hennigan explained, are supported by many tasks that must be completed to achieve goals. 

To allow for better insight, President Hennigan spoke to the ways he and his team are reaching out to students, faculty and alumni on what the University can improve on.

Handing out index cards, Hennigan asked the room one question:

“What’s one thing that you think the university could do that would help to address one of those four strategic initiatives [Academic Excellence, Quality Student Experience, Managed Resources and Community Engagement]?”

Once index cards were written on, Hennigan urged the room of students to share their thoughts out loud. 

Gabe Dubin, vice president of USG, said the University should focus more on creating connections.

“I would put a focus on creating relationships with businesses and groups to allow for meaningful internships with students,” Dubin said.

USG president Blaine King focused on the various activities and groups the university offers.

“Push the things we currently have on-campus that are great resources for students,” King said. 

Hennigan then gave students another chance to write their ideas down. Those ideas were then turned in to be reviewed and prioritized based on what can be accomplished in the next five years. 

President Hennigan closed his presentation by speaking to a possible rebranding and what prospective students look for in a school before handing the floor over to representatives from the physical plant.

In a four slide presentation, representatives Chris Hill and Mark Abbott spoke to USG of the recent projects the physical plant has accomplished and taken up since the last time they addressed the legislative body in Oct. 

Projects include updating the lights in Lawrence resident hallways, painting stairwells, and updating bathrooms.

Shuttle transportation, which falls under the physical plant’s jurisdiction, has also had an update with technology, with a new app to track shuttles. Handouts will be distributed with information on the shuttles next week.

What USG as well as other organizations within the University stress to do is keep up with communication. 

Hill urged students to provide feedback on these projects, as well as work order requests to allow for optimum services. On average, about 72 percent of work order feedback forms are not filled out.

To combat a lack of communication with the student body, USG has begun a “Know Your Senator” campaign to focus on a way to bridge the gap between the two groups.